Unique aspects of clergy abuse cited at Boston conference

Published: 2004-01-23

BOSTON (CNS) -- Childhood sexual abuse by a priest has a unique impact on a person's spirituality that is not found in other abuse victims, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley of Boston said at a national conference on the topic Jan. 14. The Boston archdiocesan Office of Pastoral Support and Outreach, in collaboration with Boston College's Graduate School of Social Work, sponsored the daylong conference. It drew nearly 200 social workers, psychologists and other mental health professionals from across the country. It was believed to be the first such national conference to deal specifically with mental health issues for people who were sexually abused by clergy when they were children -- a field in which there is little research. In his opening remarks, Archbishop O'Malley said that meeting with abuse victims helped him "begin to understand the damage and how long range the effect of sex abuse is." After meeting with dozens of victims in the archdiocese, he saw that a "common denominator" among them was that many were from extremely devout and active Catholic families. "Priests occupied a very, very important place in their lives -- the priest was the icon of the transcendent, and hence the abuse had consequences that went beyond the damage in similar cases of abuse that did not involve clergy," said Archbishop O'Malley.

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